The Security Service of Ukraine has uncovered and detained a group of Kharkiv Oblast residents who were collaborating with Russian intelligence services. They blew up a car carrying a Ukrainian soldier and were plotting more terrorist attacks.
Source: Security Service of Ukraine (SSU); Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine
Details: The investigation revealed that four residents of Kharkiv Oblast – a software engineer, a former member of the military, and two unemployed men – were recruited by Russian special services and acted in the interests of the aggressor state.
The suspects were supervised by a special forces fighter of the illegal Russian-controlled Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), who is fighting against Ukraine on the eastern front and cooperating with Russian intelligence. He instructed the suspects and gave them orders via a messaging app.
The men searched for the locations of the Ukrainian military in Kharkiv and the oblast and sent the information – maps marking those locations – to their DPR handler.
In June 2024, the suspects blew up the vehicle of a Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman, seriously injuring him. They prepared for the operation in advance, monitoring the movements of the Ukrainian soldier in order to place an explosive device under his car at the right time.
The suspects were planning to carry out a number of other terrorist acts. One of their tasks was to cause an accident on a railway track to prevent the transport of Ukrainian military equipment to the front line.
One of the suspects [the software engineer – ed.] made an improvised explosive device, which he hid in a woods in the Kharkiv district; he reported this fact to his handler via the messaging app. Immediately afterwards, he was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement.
На Харківщині діяла група російських агентів, яка підірвала авто з воїном ЗСУ і готувала нові теракти. Відео затримання фігуранта, який ховав у схрон вибухівку… pic.twitter.com/3jnsAJHfub
— Українська правда ✌️ (@ukrpravda_news) November 18, 2024
The other three suspects were detained at their places of residence. During the searches, law enforcement officers found and seized explosives, computer equipment and mobile phones with evidence of their illegal activities.
All four men were served a notice of suspicion of high treason committed under martial law, and one of them was also charged with carrying, storing and transferring explosives and explosive devices without a permit.
At the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, all four suspects will be detained without the right to be released on bail.
Whether the suspects’ crimes can also be classified under Art. 113 (sabotage) and Art. 258 (terrorist act) remains to be decided, the SSU said.
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